John g



"strut Him .teun e. Meenemen,` oF Lonisvinnulunn'rucnr, Assiettes Touitlenen AND M W. FERGUSON.

Letters Patent No. 79,9l4, dated July 14, 1862i; an-tedatetl July 3,1868.l

APPARATUS roe resume FUEL To Eveneens.

TOQLL WHOM IT MAY GONCEBN:

Be it known that L'JOIIN G. MCCORMICK, of Louisville, in the county ofJederson, and Stato ofKentueky,

have invented a new and improved Apparatus for Feeding Fuel tovFurnaces;and Ido hereby'declare the following to be a-full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the' accompanyingdrawings,

forming part of this specification, and in which I Figure 1 is a frontelevation of my invention, showing n section of the left-side, andFigure 2 is a vertical cross-soetionof the same,"l through the dottedred line :c of Viig. 1. Y This invention is an apparatus for carryingfuel, coal, sawdust,l&c., from a bunker to thc furnace, and feeding itregularly, uniformly, and evenly, over the lengtlrand breadth of thedre-grate, under any number of steam-boilers, at the same time. 4 I

, The machine is worked by the engine, and requires no care, except 'inkeeping the bunkers supplied with fuel to be used. l l y Similarlettersof reference indicate corresponding parts in tbe'severa'l figures.

ln the drawings( AAA represent a Set of boilers, used in connection witha steam-engine, whether stationary lo'r upon steamships or othervconveyances, and heated by thefurnnce F.

B is a funnel or bunker, containing a supply of fuel to be fed to thefurnace E. i C-is a. cylindrical tube, extendingfrom a gute or aperture,B, at the bot-toni of the bunker, to a point nearly over the lcentre ofthe fire-grate. l i v C is alncther similar tube, situated under then'ppr extremity of the tube C, so thu-t the latter communientes with itthrough an opening c, as shown in fig. 2. y' l 1 The cylinder C issituated in an inclined position, rising from the bunker to the cylinderC. The latter extends horizontally across above all the boilers, as seenin lig. 1. The office of the cylinder C is to convey coal from thebunker to the horizontal cylinder C', the oicc of the latter being tocon'vcy'the fuel to4 the different boilers, and discharge itlupon thegrato' Gbeneaththem, by means of bifurcated spon'tsE E, of the formshown clearly'in iig. 1. The spouts are situated vertically abovethepbolers, and divide so as to distribute the fuel on each side ofthem.v` A i A 'I The fuel is elevated through the' cylinder C by meansof u worm oil-screw, c', working within the cylinder. A similar worm orscrew, c",cxtonds through the whole length of the cylinder C, for thepurpose o f distributing the fuel, received from the inclined4 cylinder,along the whole length of the horizontal cylinder. This screw worksright and left fromthe central line :xto the outer boilers, in order todivide and distribute the fuel, and left and right from eaclrextremityof the cylinder lto theiouter boilers, in order to prevent any oftbo'fuelfrom lodging in the ends of the cylinders. The-latter object,however, might be. reached by enlarging the apertures` above the endboilers, or making their feedinglspouts funnelfform, or by someequivalent device, so that the screw c should simplybe a screw workingright and left from its centre. Both these screws are driven by powerapplied atthe shaft S, end cominunicated through the gear s 8182s s* S5.Ido not, however, limit myself to-any particularnrrangement of thisgear.' Anynrrangcment which will answer the purpose will come within thelimits of my'i'nvention. y l v The fuel, having thus becn'carried toeachrdischnrge-spout E, falls into the spout upon a regulating-wheel, e,working tightly between twouhinged concaves e which, operated by o.weight, e, press against lthe ends of 'the arms of thowlieels, andconfine the fuel to the wheels, so that it cannot pass them faster thantheir revolution will'irllow. The wheels themselves consist of `a shaft,providedwith veor any other convenient number of arms, which extendacross and till up the passage between the'concaves, and intercept allthe fuelthat falls from th'e horizontal cylinder. An opening between thelower ends ofthe concaves, directly .under the wheelsimft, allows thefuel that' passes around the wheels with their revolution to'escape andpass to the grate. In falling from the opening it is divided bytheseparatorz'into two equal portions, one portion entering one branch ofthe divided spout and falling-on one side of tho boiler, and the'otherportion cntering'the other branch and falling under the other side. Y

The separatoris an instrument resembling ai stove-damper, composed of aplate vor'lcef attached to a rod at the point where the bianches of thespout meet, and so-construcfed as to turn in either direction, andentirely close that branch of the spout, and direct all of the coal intothe other branch, or to Astand vertically between the two, as shown infig. 1, splitting the stream oft descending fuel into twcparts, anddirecting it equally into cach branch. Its inclination is regulated atany desired an lc-by means of a hand-whcel, Z', outside of the spout.

It is evident 'that the concavesand wheel will require an enlargement ofthe spout for4 their accommodation. `I accordingly place them in a`chamber, sufficiently large te receive them and to allow the concaves teoperatc. l One object of the concaves is to confine tlxerfuel to thewheel ordinarily, and yet toyield rand allow larg pieces of coalsticks,&c., to pass, which would otherwise endanger the safety of theapparatus.

The wheels e e are 'worked by a shaft-{(S, with which they gear, andwhich receives motion from the main shaft S. l v

In each branch of the spout E is a vibrating-leaf or plate., m, hangingfrom a rocker-slmftmz", operated by "cam, u, on the shaft S., throughthe medium of a pitinamp, and arm a.

The object of this'vibrctin'g-plate is to scatter the fuel the wholelength of thoboilex-,so as vto equalize it and increase itsheating-power. y

The branches of the spouts widen `out lengthwise of the'boilers' as theyapproach lthere, in order to give room for the vibrating-plates tooperafeto advantage.

The fuel, having thus passed from the bunker to the furnace, and beingscattered along equally the whol length of theboilers 'on each side ofthem, falls upon the grate G, which, in its turn, vvibrates buck andforth A under the boilcrs,`in e direction transverse to them, beingoperated fby the shaft S, through the means of a cam,

gear-wheel, crank, or other device, shown at y, for that purpose. v

In the drawings, my grate is shown as ruiming on4 the rollers r1', andoperated by a ,pitman, crank, and gear-wheel. I do not, however, limi-tmyself to these details of construction, but wish to leave myself freeto use any arrangement of sliding, rocking, or swinging grate, whichtravels back and forth under the boilers in a direction across theirlonger axis.

This vibratirig-grate is for. the purpose of disluilmxtingthe fuelequally under the boilers, as the swinging plates m m'dstribute it alongtheir length. The action of the two arrangements together, therefore,secures a 'uniform and ev'en distribution ofthe fuel overthe wholesurface of thc fire-grate, and, when these parts are oper! ated inconnection with thefeeding-apparatus, ins'ures a uniform combustion ofall the fuel, including, as is found in practice, even the smoke,generating the greatest possible amount of heat tluerefrom.l

Any fuel may be used in connection with the apparatus, which can'bo fedthrough the cylinders.

In order that the' fuel may not escape from the endg of thevibrating-lgrate, the latter is provided. with raised ends g', whichconne it to theheating-surface of the grate. The ends ofthe furnace musthe extended or chatnhered a little more than usual, to give room for themotion of the grate.

Dampers L'L may he providcdat any suitable point in the spouts E E, toprevent the smoke from going up through the cylinders when the apparatusis not in motion, though, if the parts are properly constructed, therewill. be no need of dampcrs.` The great object of'thc coneaves andwheels working within'the spouts is to close the spouts air-tight, sothat no smoke een ascend through them, and when constructed properlythey will perfectly accomplish that purpose. l

A'damper or gate, D, may also bc attached to the bottom of thc bunkers,to regulate the supply of fuel feeding from them. v This, however, maynot benecessary, as the velocity with which the shaft S is run willperfectly g'overn and control the action of all the lpartsnland regulatethe feeding o f the fuel tothe furnace. The shafts are to he geared upor down, to give the proper relative speed to the dillerent-parts of theapparatus.

The great object ofthis invention is to enable the public to uselinely-pulverizcd fuel,'-such as coal-dust, the refuse or screeningsofthe minos, hagasse, saw-dust, rite. The u sc of fuel in va pulverizedstato economizes .its healing-power to theihighcst extent. In thatcondition it burns rapidly and with an intense heat, scarcely a particleof it'escaping in tle form of smoke.` Great dilliculties have hithertoattended its use fcr such purpose, arising lfrom the impossibility ofproperly feedingit te the furnace. l

My machine completely ohviates' these difficulties, enabling, in somoinstanccs,'t`wo men to easily feed furv`naeeswhich have hithertorequired4 the consta-nt eii'orts of sir-r or eight men,and in all casessaving at least iifty per centfoflabor hitherto employed fonsuchpurposes.

.My machine does its work more perfectly than it can possibly be dono byhand, requiringno opening of the doors to'let in great draughts of coldair, and heaping up no cold fuel under tht` boilers, but keeping' up aco'nstunt supply of fuel in the required quantities, and at the requiredpoints.

The opening of the furnace-doors, andthe sudden cooling of the underside of the boilers by the cold air and fresh fuel, have caused manyboilers to break and burst from unequal expansion and contraction; thisdanger is yentirely obviated by my invention. lThe fuel which my machinethus utilizes, at such immense advantages over the old system, has beenhitherto considered as alinostworthicss, selling'or loss thanone-i`ourth of the price of. coal. With such materialniy machine-savesone-half of the expense of fuel, utilizes asubstancc new consideredworthless, prevents explosion, and increases the heatingpower of thefurnace.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and dcsiretosecure by Letters Patent, is*

l. The arrangement of the double-acting screw cfwithin cylinder C', whenconstructed and used substantially as and for. the purpose specified..

2.1 The arrangement of the eonpnves e e and wheels e e within the spout'EQ through ywhich fuel is fed to u furnace, substantially as and forthe purposes indicated.

' purposes described.

3. 'lvhe errangement of the bifureatecl'spouts E E 'astride of' theboilers A A, substantially as and for the 4. The instrumente', whenusedin a. feeding-spout for the purpose of directing the fuel to its properdestination, and constructed and operated es` above described.

5. The vibratieg-piatesv m m, substantially as and for thepurposespecified. l

6. The arrangement .of the vibrating-grate G with the horizontal boilersA A A,l in suoli o position that it vibrates back and fortlrtransuerselyunder them, for th purpose of levelling the vfuel beneaththem,'substantially as described. Y 5 l JOHN G. MeCORMICK.

' llf'itnesses: JAMES H. GRIDLEY,

NATHAN K. ELLswoi'ru.

